US administration harbors ‘visceral hatred’ toward Iran: Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the United States administration is in denial of Iran’s obvious commitment to its obligations under a 2015 deal due to Washington’s “visceral hatred” toward Tehran.

“The UN & entire world say Iran is in full compliance with its commitments, but US visceral hatred of Iran compels it to deny the obvious,” Zarif tweeted on Friday.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely the US, the UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany, signed a nuclear accord in Vienna in 2015. Under the deal, nuclear-related sanctions on the Islamic Republic were lifted, and, in return, Iran agreed to discontinue certain aspects of its peaceful nuclear program.

On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council held a plenary meeting addressing the implementation of that deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The event saw the UN, the European Union, and many major world countries all speaking appreciatively of Iran’s commitment to the deal, while the United States alone cried foul.

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman — himself originally from America — EU Ambassador to the UN Joao Vale de, and Britain’s Deputy UN Ambassador Peter Wilson, were among those who hailed Iran’s commitment to the JCPOA.

Feltman told the Council that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is deeply encouraged by the continued commitment by all participants to the agreement,” calling it “the embodiment of successful multilateral diplomacy, political will, and perseverance.” He said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had issued seven reports, the latest in early June, documenting Iran’s continued implementation of its nuclear-related commitments.

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring the technical aspects of the nuclear deal.

However, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, claimed the Council had ignored what she said was “Iran’s repeated violations” of the nuclear agreement.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has been skeptical of almost every major foreign and domestic policy enacted by his predecessor, Barack Obama, including negotiating and implementing the Iran deal. Trump’s administration has been conducting a “review” to see whether the provision of sanctions relief — a US commitment under the deal — is in America’s “national interest.”

US officials have hinted that Washington may choose to unilaterally pull out of the deal if the Trump administration finds the deal not in its interests. But unilaterally scrapping a multilateral deal would seriously harm the US’s stature, which may have been why the Trump administration has chosen to stick to the deal in its roughly six months in office so far.

Foreign Minister Zarif has just finished a tour of European countries — Germany, Italy, and France — where he discussed the JCPOA, among other things. He tweeted separately about those visits, saying he had had excellent meetings with European leaders in Berlin, Rome, and Paris.